Which car fits a cello!

[cellointheboot]

In the market for a new car. Current Mitsubishi ASX not ideal as we have to put a seat down to fit the cello in. Ideally looking for a crossover/4x4 which would fit the cello & a violin in the boot without having to put the back seat down. Like the look of the outlander, Mazda CX-5, Skodas - anyone with any experience? Hoping to find the time to try a few cars in the coming weeks but an advice would narrow it down!

We have a SEAT Alhambra and it definitely fits the full-size cello without putting the seat down! It also fits a friend's cello as well so should be plenty big enough!

Nissan Qashqai doesn’t fit a full size cello in a hard case (but might with a soft case as it’s close) if you also want to rule things out!

How many people do you need to transport with the cello and do you want it to be out of sight?

Occasionally it would be good to get 4 adults, cello, 2 violins, gig bags etc, but mainly just cello, violin & 3 adults without having the cello in view (so hidden in the boot). The cx5 jumped out as a possibility because of the split 40 20 40 rear seats which would make the 4 adult journeys more pleasant with the cello poking through the middle seat into the back. I've enjoyed the high ride in the asx too so would like to keep that aspect too if possible. I know an estate would probably be more practical but high ride helps the back!

Our criteria included 4WD so there may well be others that you want to look at. From our experience, getting the cello /completely/ out of sight is achievable but will shorten your list quite substantially. However, anything that will fit a cello in the boot (even if not out of sight) will also accommodate a couple of fiddles and some bags at the same time. We were using a BAM full-size hard case for testing purposes. The notes below are based on photos we took (we have an exciting life…) and my memories - they are not guaranteed correct or exhaustive but may give you some ideas. In no particular order:
VW Touareg (40/20/40 fold will take a cello neck through the middle)
Hyundai Santa Fe (will fit diagonally across boot, although not sure cover will close. Or through 40/20/40 fold)
Audi A4 or SQ5 (through the ski-hatch!)
Audi A6 (boot of the saloon is made to measure to take a cello across the diagonal (OK - its probably not, but it might as well be!))
Peugot 5008 (will fit diagonally across boot, although not sure cover will close. Or can stand in centre rear seat as extra passenger)
Ford Edge (will fit diagonally across boot, cover will close.)
Mercedes GLC (through the rear seat)
LandRover Discovery Sport (If you put the 40 split forward a touch the cello will fit diagonally in the boot and the cover will close)
LandRover Discovery (easy. Very very easy)
Jaguar F-Pace (Through the rear seat. Won’t fit in the front passenger seat)
Volvo V60 or XC60 (through the rear seat, XC60 it’ll go diagonally but the cover won’t close)
Volvo XC90 (Easy)
Kia Sorento (Easy)
Skoda Kodiaq (You can fit a lot of cellos and a lot of people in this car! Can’t promise you can put the cover over one in the boot but intuitively you should be able to. Full size will stand in 1st or 2nd row)
Subaru Outback, Levorg & Forester (will fit in the boot of either, although I’m not sure if the cover will close. Will stand in centre rear seat of Outback)
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (will fit in the boot but the cover needs to come out, I think)
VW Tiguan Allspace (for some reason I have no details, but DH assured me it fit!)

Tangle02 that is an amazingly extensive list to get me started! Lots of contenders there that I haven't even considered before - you are a star, thank you 💐

When choosing a new car my criteria was small, cheap, new and able to fit a full size cello!

I got a Hyundai i10. the back seats fold down so you can get three adults and the cello in comfortably.

Not good for your purposes - but I believe this is the smallest car that will fit a cello!

I love our Hyundai i10. DD has managed a bari sax, trombone and 3 people in it.

OP, my cello experience was only 3/4 so not terribly helpful. But we did have a Vauxhall Zafira with took the 3/4 cello, bari sax, tuba and 2 trombones.

We did take a 3/4 size double bass one, but that had one of the rear seats folded down.

We took the instruments with us when we bought our latest car (no longer includes the cello) to make sure they fitted in the boot.

You're welcome!

if you're going round a few dealerships, my advice would be to take the case and take lots of photos. Our first photo is always of the tailgate so we know when we're looking at a new model. I have an album with >200 photos of cellos in cars and I know DH has more. And take photos showing where the cello /doesn't/ fit as well (I wish we'd taken more with the load cover balanced at odd angles to show that it had to be removed, but there we go!). And a random thing on the load cover point is that if you need to remove it, is there anywhere it can go in the car? IIRC the Skoda has a designated home for it and there were some others where it would lie across the boot, but for many it was actually quite a challenge to get it in with the cello (in some I think it would have wound up under the feet of the rear passengers, which is far from ideal).

We went to a second hand car dealership (because they had lots of different models in stock) armed with the two instruments that had to fit in the boot. The thing I hadn't considered is that some cars have odd shaped tailgates where the opening is smaller than the width of the boot. It makes loading that much harder in the dark, in the rain.

Loving the i10 stories!

We managed an adult, 2 adult-sized teens + 1 child-sized teen, a 3/4 cello, an alto sax, 3x school bags, a box of marking and 1x art portfolio in mine once. It wasn't hugely comfortable, and unpacking had great comic value, but the car is essentially a Tardis.

We had two cellos/hard cases and the Volvo V70 was perfect.

DD fits her full-size cello, tenor sax and 3 adults in her Kia Rio. The rear seat folds in a 60:40, so she folds the 40% and it goes in fine.

I play the double bass and use a specific trolley/stool which makes new car buying tricky. I take the bass, cello and sax with me as there were many occasions I had to carry all of them (now DD is at uni, it's not so frequent). The record is bass, cello, violin, viola, stool, 4 music stands, concert clothes and 4 of us. My old VW Touran was just brilliant; the new model is ok but a slightly lower roof has made it more awkward.